To meet again
by Kaitos-V-ibrator
Summary: Class rep has been given an invitation by someone for a duel, and that someone turns out to be none other than his ex-hero, the grand champion IV. What would a guy like that want with him anymore?


Looking back down to his invitation a bit curiously, Takashi furrowed his brows wondering who could be wanting to meet him in such an undisclosed location.

To be perfectly honest, he had no desire to be here at all, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He was prepared though!

His phone was fully charged, his good running sneakers on, and he had been sure to tell his friends where he was going.

Either way there was no way it could be anything too dangerous. Probably just Tokunosuke cooking up some kind of plot.

He had no business with any shady people anyways.

Well…considering where he was heading to, he couldn't help but be a touch suspicious.

He had been avoiding this area for many months now. The place he and Tetsuo had dueled IV. Not dueled, but had been tortured by the elder duelist.

He hadn't heard any news asides from the other moving away with his family or something. Hearing anything about the celebrity still brung goosebumps to his arms.

It didn't matter though. The last person trying to contact him would be IV. He had moved on with his life, they both had. Takashi was just an old victim of his malicious intent, never to be bothered with again.

Yuma and Shark had been the ones they had been after anyways. He and Tetsuo were a lure, nothing more.

Shrugging off all these uneccessary thoughts, Takashi stood alone in the seccluded alley way and crossed his arms.

"Tokunosuke! If you don't hurry up, I'm not helping you with your biology project later!" He called out to the empty space, tapping his foot in impatience.

He really couldn't stand it when people were tardy.

Maybe he should just call him? Tell him he knew it was him hatching some kind of plan and that he just wasn't going to fall for it (this time).

"I'm surprised you came." A chilling voice broke through his thoughts, causing him to feel his body instantly chill.

No…all logic pointed to this never happening! What business more did he have with him?!

"…you…" he growled, turning to face IV once again. IV had his duel disk out, and was dressed…casually it seemed? He had never seen him in anything outside of his…dueling costumes he assumed?

All those stupid maganzines and articles he had poured over before…he felt so stupid!

"Me. Todoroki, m'I right?" IV asked all too casually, causing Takashi's fears to melt quickly away into anger.

How dare he! After all this time, just show up out of nowhere and try to…to charm him? Perhaps?! What was this, some kind of publicity stunt? There…were no cameras…

"…what can I help you with?" he replied, cursing his naturally poliet choosing of words. He should have said, "what the hell do you want?" or something intimating like that…

Should he run? Gah…he didn't want to run from him…he wanted to make this guy pay or something—

At least he wanted to. A lot of the animosity towards the other had faded away over time, and this unpleasant reminder he still existed was bringing out the worst in him.

He was tired of being some kind of pawn or disposable toy for other people!

"Nothing really, I guess. I was just back in town wondering if you maybe wanted a rematch?" he responded with an air of forcefulness. It was strange to hear the "IV" speaking in such an unsure fashion.

But Takashi knew better than that. He wasn't going to be fooled again.

"I rather like having my limbs in tack, thank you." he stiffly shot back, taking a cautious step back. Maybe if he threw his phone at him while he ran away, he could get a good start away from him?

"Heh, I'd suppose you would. And—listen, I'm not here to give you some sappy apology or my whole life story, I called you out here to give you a chance."

Now Takashi's interest was peaked.

A…chance?

He was honestly expecting some kind of cheesy apology, no doubt apart of some kind of "fanservice" or whatnot. What was he going on about..

"…what are you talking about?" he ventured cautiously, taking another step back as IV advanced closer.

"Well, aS I'm sure you remember, I kinda fucked pretty badly with you and your buddy, am I right?" raising a single brow in questioning, IV waited for Takashi to nod.

"I'm surprised you remembered as much, IV."

"Thomas."

"…what?"

"It's Thomas, you can call me Thomas."

"I'll stick to IV, thank you." Oh this sort of information would have made him burst months before! He would have ran off to tell Tetsuo and the others, and just…no, it wasn't like that anymore.

"Alright, alright, fair enough. But yeah, like I was saying. I messed with you guys, so don't you wanna' try and take a few shots back?" Shrugging his hands into his pockets, Thomas grinned a bit sheepishly over at the other. He very well knew he wasn't going to get a warm welcome from the younger, but he wanted to at least try.

He knew better than a lot of people how much it sucked to have this kind of pent up fury against someone. It just ate away at you and left you bitter…he…didn't want anyone to have to feel like that if he could help it.

"Duel you again?! Do I look stupid or something?!" Letting his vocie raise to a tone he was unfamilliar with in himself, Takashi balled up his fists wanting nothing more than to slam them against Thom—IV's face.

"M'not really sure what stupid looks like, but I guess not. Come on, so you're just going to give up like that?" He teased a bit, fitting a D-Gazer over his eye. He wasn't going to duel this kid using his fucking powers, he was trying to make ammends or something here. Maybe not ammends…just…hell if he knew.

So callously attacking them had been itching at the corner of his mind for quite some time now. It reminded him too much of how Tron acted back then, and if his father could try and be better for them, he wanted to be worth it.

"I—you—!" Not wanting to seem afraid of a duel against him, Takashi too took out his D-gazer. "What are you playing at?"

"Duel monsters kid, come on, we dueled just a few months ago," grinning fully when Takashi cracked just a hint of a smile, Thomas drew his first card.

It wouldn't be an easy route, but hell, he could give it a shot. He wanted to give it a shot. This kid seemed like a nice guy that had been pushed around a lot, and still held his head up.

He could respect that.

Remembering how Yuma had forgiven all the Arclights for what they had done to him, Takashi frowned to himself wondering if he could do the same. Previously he had rationalized that he could get over what happened, but not really forgive the other.

Maybe that was going to change.


End file.
